|
China-US trade mutually beneficial: Ministry
(Xinhua/AP)
Updated: 2006-02-25 13:32
The United States' trade deficits with China do not reflect the whole picture
of the two country's trade ties, China's Ministry of Commerce said on Friday.
Chong Quan, a spokesperson of the ministry, said the balance of the two
country's economic and trade benefits should be viewed from not only trade and
investment, but also trade of goods and services.
In an interview with Xinhua over the report by the Office of U.S. Trade
Representatives (USTR), Chong said fast development of Sino-U.S. trade ties
facilitate the sustained economic growth of the two countries and bring about
enormous mutual benefits. U.S. consumers benefit hugely from cheap and quality
goods made in China.
It is estimated that the U.S. consumer price index would have gone up by 2
percent without consumer goods from China, said the spokesperson.
Chong said China is the fastest growing export market of the United States,
and one of the major sources of profits for overseas U.S. companies.
"It is therefore of great importance to maintain stable Sino-U.S. trade ties.
China has noticed that the report released by the USTR recognizes this point,"
he added.
He quoted a survey conducted in 2004 by the China U.S. Chamber of Commerce as
saying that 62 percent of U.S. firms in China provide goods and services. Annual
sales of their goods and services in China exceeded 75 billion U.S. dollars and
the U.S. firms in China export a similar amount of goods to markets
outsideChina.
"The benefits coming from investment, however, have not been reflected in
trade statistics," said the spokesperson.
Commenting on the USTR's figure of U.S. trade deficits with China of 202
billion U.S. dollars in 2005, Chong said there is a great disparity between U.S.
and Chinese statistics.
The trade deficit figures released by the United States are exaggerated --
they should be 114.17 billion U.S. dollars according to Chinese statistics, he
said.
"As a matter of fact, U.S. trade deficits with China are closely related to
the international transfer of industry of economic globalization."
As the USTR acknowledges in the report, U.S. trade with other Asian trade
partners narrowed while the U.S. trade deficits with China grew -- the share of
U.S. trade deficits with the Asia-Pacific region of overall U.S. trade deficits
dropped to 43 percent in 2005 from 57 percent in 1999, said Chong.
The spokesperson said the Chinese government attaches great importance to
Sino-U.S. economic and trade relations and is willing to strive to narrow the
bilateral trade deficits.
To illustrate his point, Chong said China placed an order for 70 Boeing
passenger planes last year and China's imports of soybeans from the U.S. account
for one third of the total U.S. soybean exports.
China also hopes the United States will relax its restrictions on exports to
China as soon as possible to remove trade barriers from its sectors which have
the most competitive advantages.
On the concerns put forward by the United States in the report,Chong said
China has abided by international rules and has been committed to its
obligations since it joined the World Trade Organization.
Chong said China's tariff on manufactured goods was lowered to 9 percent from
42.9 percent before the entry, and tariff on agricultural products was down to
15.2 percent from 54 percent, while 100 sectors and sub-sectors opened up
services trade, a level close to that of the developed countries.
China's imports have been growing annually by about 100 billionU.S. dollars
in each of the recent years, making it the world's third biggest import market,
which fully indicates the openness ofthe Chinese market,said Chong.
On protection of intellectual property rights, Chong said China's
legislative, law enforcement and executive departments have constantly taken
measures to protect intellectual property rights and the progress is obvious to
all.
China believes that the economies of China and the United States are mutually
supplementary, which constitutes the basis forsustained expansion of economic
and trade relations, said Chong.
Chong called for both sides to improve mutual trust and cooperation to create
a better environment to stabilize and promote bilateral economic and trade
relations.
|
